RUSSIANS BEGIN DONETZ TRIAL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18467, 19 May 1928, Page 2

RUSSIANS BEGIN DONETZ TRIAL

DEATH SENTENCES LIKELY OUTCOME. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received Mav 19, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON. May 18. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow' says: Beneath a blaze of cinema arclights and with loud speakers gaping from the walls, the trial has begun in the Trade Union Hall of three Germans and fifty Russians charged with fomenting an economic counter-revolution at Donetz. Professor Vishinsky presides over a bench of five, two of whom are workmen and one a Donetz miner. The evidence, which concerns the accuseds’ relations with the French and Polish Governments, is being taken secretly. The Prosecutor sarcastically rejected the request to summon a (Jerman witness, saying? that if the employers came they should be as prisoners, not as witnesses. The penalty, if accused are found guilty, is death. The Soviet Press foreshadows harsh treatment for them. “ Isvesta ” declares that the Donetz affair was the prelude to an open, armed attack on the Soviet. Berlin newspapers prepare their readers for a farcical trial, the result of which will certainly be inimical to Germano-Russian relations.—Australian Press Association.